CHAPTER THREE — The Things They Didn’t Say🥹
269 Words
Some silences are louder than words.
Especially when they feel like they mean something.
Keira didn’t mean to start looking for him.
But she did.
Not in a way she could explain.
Not in a way she would admit.
Just… small moments.
A glance at the door.
A pause before sitting down.
A quiet hope she tried to ignore.
And when she didn’t see him —
she felt it.
Not disappointment.
Something softer.
Something worse.
By the time she finally told herself she wouldn’t check again, she still did.
And then—
“You’re consistent.”
Her breath caught before she even turned.
Ziven.
Standing there like he had always been part of the space she hadn’t noticed until he filled it.
“You were gone,” she said before she could stop herself.
He tilted his head slightly.
“Gone?”
“You weren’t here.”
A pause.
Not awkward.
Just loaded.
“I noticed,” he said quietly.
That stayed in the air longer than it should have.
Keira looked away first.
Not because she wanted to.
But because she needed to.
“I had things to take care of,” Ziven added.
She nodded, though she hadn’t asked.
But she wanted to.
That was becoming the pattern.
They talked.
Not about anything important.
But everything still felt important.
Small details.
Simple answers.
Long pauses that said more than sentences ever could.
And somewhere between the words and the silence —
Keira realized something she didn’t know how to name yet.
He was starting to feel familiar.
Too familiar.
And familiar things…
had a way of staying.
- Writer
